Quite frankly, Curtis Samuel doesn’t listen to the noise. Then again, when it is his new head coach speaking, he listens.

So do his teammates. There is one compliment Samuel probably wishes they had not heard. He has probably been asked by his Ohio State teammates a few times to replace their head coach’s heart.

Ohio State head coach Urban Meyer was making his way through ESPN shows two weeks ago when he was talking about Samuel.

He said the freshman running back stole his heart.

That’s not exactly the kind of talk you hear from Ohio State’s head coach. After all, Samuel isn’t a puppy.

He is, however, an unlikely competitor to replace Carlos Hyde at running back this season. Even this week, Meyer was going on about Samuel.

“I gotta be careful because I do this,” Meyer said of falling in love with players too soon, “but I love that kid. Man, oh man does he go hard.

“He is talented, and he will play this year.”

Samuel has come from the unlikeliest of places to be a contender to

replace Hyde. He is a 5-foot-11, 190-pound freshman who has a combination of slashing speed and enough kick to knock over a linebacker. He graduated early from Erasmus Hall High School in Brooklyn, New York — not exactly a running back Mecca.

He ran for 1,461 yards as a senior and averaged a ridiculous 15.8 yards a carry with 17 touchdowns. It wasn’t like that was a fluke. He averaged 11.5 yards a carry as a junior.

“I can say, coming from the head coach, those words mean something to me,” Samuel said. “But my job is still to perform at the highest level I can. Just because he (Meyer) has said some things nice about me, that doesn’t mean I can go out there and slack off. As soon as I do that, it sets me back as far as playing time.”

The biggest question about Samuel is whether he has the body as a freshman to run between the tackles in a grown man’s conference, as Meyer would call it.

Ezekiel Elliott was the favorite to get the first look at replacing Hyde. Elliott was Hyde’s backup when the season ended. Senior Rod Smith and redshirt sophomore Bri’onte Dunn also are looking for playing time.

But it is Samuel who has drawn the most praise from Meyer. That could change this week. Ohio State is in the midst of its toughest week of practice before opening the season Aug. 30 against Navy. Freshmen can hit a wall this week.

Page 2 of 2 - Samuel arrived in Columbus in time to take part in spring drills. His body is more developed than most freshmen because he’s been on campus.

“I’m not going to say I’m surprised to be in the mix,” Samuel said. “I got with the trainers and coaches here. They helped me build both my confidence and my body to show my talents on the field. I’m getting ready to withstand the college punishment.”

Meyer likes to separate the men from the boys this week. It is no surprise that Samuel and linebacker Raekwon McMillan were the first two freshmen to get the black stripes all freshmen have on their helmets removed. It’s a rite of passage of August camp.

“The mentality is to go out there and push through this,” Samuel said. “We’ve got big brothers to keep us moving forward. We’ve got great leaders who push us to get through this part of camp.”

Samuel’s big brother is Elliott, oddly enough. Both are competing for the same spot. But there isn’t animosity, Samuel said.

Instead, there is motivation.

“In the running back room, we’re all brothers,” Samuel said. “We want to boost each other and make each other better. We’re trying to motivate each other.”

OSU adds UNLV, Oregon State

It didn’t take long for Ohio State to fill out future football schedules. A day after announcing a two-year contract with North Carolina had been canceled, the Buckeyes announced the addition of two teams to replace the Tar Heels.

Ohio State will play UNLV in 2017 and Oregon State in 2018 instead of North Carolina. The 2018 game against the Beavers will be the season opener, scheduled for Ohio Stadium.

The Buckeyes will play their first three games of the 2018 season against “big five” conference teams, with the Sept. 22 game yet to be decided.

That could happen in 2017, too. Ohio State is scheduled to open that season at Indiana, with a Sept. 9 game to be decided before playing Oklahoma, UNLV and Rutgers. In 2016, the Big Ten is going to a nine-game conference schedule. That brings a reduction in nonconference games.

The school also announced a long-range change. Games against Boston College, originally scheduled for 2020 and 2021 have been moved to 2023 and 2024. The true freshmen who will play in that 2023 game are getting set to begin fourth grade.